Deutsche files harassing foreclosure case against son of foreclosure activist

By davidpetraitis, on May 16th, 2011

HuffPost has an article on the scare tactics of Deutsche Bank against one of the acknowledged experts in foreclosure fraud: Ms. Lynn Szymoniak. She has fought her own foreclosure, and it was thrown out of court once already. But now Deutsche has named her son as a co-defendant in the foreclosure, even though he is not on the note and has no interest in the mortgage. It looks like a harassment tactic pure and simple.

When Deutsche Bank attempted to jack up the interest rate on the mortgage for her Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., home in May 2008, she contested the move, setting off an investigation which unveiled mountains of forged signatures and fraudulent bank paperwork associated with the foreclosure process. Szymoniak alerted other attorneys, neighborhood advocates, lawmakers and the media about the apparent rampant fraud. She appeared on “60 Minutes” in April to discuss the broader foreclosure scandal…

Her own home has been in foreclosure since June 2008. A month earlier, she had been notified that the interest rate on her adjustable-rate mortgage was being raised, increasing her monthly payments by about $1,000. But the terms of her mortgage only allowed interest-rate hikes at certain dates.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Szymoniak noted that Deutsche Bank was not acting within the allowed timeframe.

“They missed my adjustment date, and then when they figured it out, they just slapped that higher payment on anyway,” she said. “I paid one payment at the higher rate and then I said, ‘This is ridiculous.’ And I stopped paying and then they sued me in June ’08.”

The first foreclosure was thrown out. The judge ruled that Deutsche could not prove ownership of the mortgage.

Shortly after appearing on “60 Minutes” Szymoniak won a major victory in her own foreclosure case. The court found that Deutsche Bank was unable to demonstrate ownership of her mortgage, which had originally been issued by the defunct subprime mortgage lender Option One, and threw the case out.

Deutsche Bank was permitted to refile their case if the bank could obtain proper documentation, however.

And refile they did with a vengeance, pursuing also her son who is studying poetry… POETRY! in New York. Obviously they are going after the deep pockets.

And on Friday, May 6, Szymoniak received a notification from the bank’s lawyers that she was again being sued for foreclosure.

But Deutsche Bank wasn’t just going after her. The bank was also attempting to sue her son, Mark Cullen, who is currently pursuing a graduate degree in poetry at the New School in New York. Cullen hasn’t lived in Szymoniak’s house for seven years and is not a party to any aspect of her mortgage — he has no interest in either the property or the loan, and never has had any such interest, according to Szymoniak.

“It is just absolute harassment,” Szymoniak said. “He doesn’t own anything, for god’s sake! He’s getting a masters in poetry. He not only doesn’t have any money, he’s never going to have any money.”